Fitness Friday...Finish What You Started

I started using this mantra many years ago when I found out I was pregnant with our second daughter while I was training for a 20 miler.  I was determined to continue the work I was doing and finish the race I had been training for for so long.  This phrase would pop into my head on those last miles when my legs were feeling like lead and my mind was trying its best to convince me to stop and just walk it in.  Over time this phrase has continued to remind me to keep pushing ALL the way to the end...to the finish line...until the last rep is complete...until I reach the goal I have in front of me. 

Today I decided to do my long run early since I am away from home and knew that once I got home I wouldn't want to leave my family for 2 hours to run.  I drove to campus early so that I would have plenty of time to run and shower before I needed to teach.  The campus is a mile long circle of sorts and so I began circling campus...counting down each time as I passed my car.  It was so peaceful on campus and it was a great time spent reflecting on the years spent there and the memories they held.  After 6 loops I decided I needed a little kick and I grabbed my Yurbuds for some tunes.  When my watch clicked to mile 8, my mind started its game again of convincing me to stop...no one will know if you stop...you can always make up the 2 miles later today...you're tired and sore and deserve a break.  Then I thought...FINISH WHAT YOU START! 

I have worked hard to get to where I am in my running and weight loss.  I have pushed my body to get it here and this was the reminder that I needed not to stop when I'm tired but stop when I'm done...when I've reached my goal...reached my weight...reached my finish line...when I finish what I've started!!  It's easy to let things eek in and convince us that we've come far enough or we work so hard we deserve a break, but we know what our goal is and we need to push until we finish!! 

I did finish my 10 miles and felt SO awesome for doing so....I even scored myself some negative splits!!

KEEP PUSHING!!!  You WILL get there!

Fitness Friday...Finish Strong

Lately my long runs have been following the same pattern...start creaky, stiff, and spend the first 3 miles convincing myself that yes this is what I want to be doing.  Then by about mile 3 I feel like this...

I'm feeling like I could do this for the next 4 hours with nothing to stop me!  Then around mile 9-10 I feel like this...

I spend the next whatever miles playing games with myself to keep going until the end!  This is something that leaves me feeling totally defeated and definitely questioning my race plans.  Not ready to give up I decided to ask around and research some tips that could help me feeling stronger as the miles tick away.

Laura from Mommy Run Fast is not only an awesome, wicked fast runner, but she's also a certified RRCA running coach offered me this advice:  Start off the first 1-2 miles slower in order to allow your body to warm up and to reserve your energy for later miles.  Also build your overall weekly mileage to boost endurance.  Thanks Laura for your advice!

Coach Jenny from Runner's World had similar advice!  She color coded the miles (you know I love color coding!) 

The yellow zone is your conversational pace...easy and you can chit chat about everything around you.  Orange is where you dial it up a bit...you can hear your own breathing but you are not out of breathe.  Red is your final kick to go hard but controlled.

So the obvious thing is that I need to start out slower in the early miles.  In the past I have tried my hardest to start slow especially during a race where I have people all around me.  I have even put slower songs on my playlist in order to slow me down.  I do find though that when I hit that sweet spot after mile 3 I speed up...I'm feeling great...and as hard as I try my body wants to GO!  Next week's long run thought I'm really going to try my hardest...to make my body reserve it when really I just want to run fast...all the time!

What do you do so that you are reaching the finish strong?

Where I Run...Oceanside Views

Today in addition to linking up with Jill for Fitness Friday, I'm also linking up with a fellow NE runner and ZOOMA Ambassador Amy at Running Escapades to highlight where we run! 

If you've been a reader here for any amount of time you will realize that the majority of my runs have ocean views!  As much I think mountains are beautiful and open land is as well, my heart is at the ocean!  Here are some pics from recent runs!

Now in the past few years, after joining a running group to meet more people after we moved, I discovered that I really do enjoy running here....

While I know I certainly don't look like it, I get the feeling that I am some elite runner rounding the curves!!

Finally my last favorite place to run is in Boston...maybe other cities too but I have never run in another.  There is never a shortage of things to look at and well...it is just an AWESOME city!!!  In a moments notice I can transport myself back to when I ran the Marathon and the awesome feeling of being there!  This is from the Boston Run to Remember Half from this year...another AWESOME race!

So I hope you've enjoyed your glimpse into where Fancy Nancy is pounding the pavement!  It is always neat to me to see where everyone's happy place is!!

Fitness Friday...It's OK!

This week I have been feeling....worn as if life has caught up with me and I can't get out of my own way!  I've been beating myself up over not feeling super motivated and falling into the ever-dangerous comparison trap....like she has 9 kids, works 2 jobs, and still runs 50 miles a week so what is my deal kind of trap!  Not OK!  I've been keeping up with my Summer Shred '13 workouts but my running has been less than stellar to say the least!  This morning I finally said to myself.....

IT'S OK.....

• to wake up in the morning and NOT want to run
• to rewash the same load of laundry 3 times because you keep forgetting about it (right?)
• to get an AMAZING opportunity through Fitfluential to work with the Under Armour What's Beautiful competition and then totally bomb the first week!
• to miss runs because you can't manage to stay awake more than 5 minutes (for a few days at least)
• to give yourself grace for a time...not too long though...to let your mind catch up with the new plan!  
• to be less than perfect (that's hard to say)
• to get to the end of your day and accept that tomorrow will be better.

Not every week is going to be one for the record books.  Life isn't always laid out in nice neat rows for us...it is what we do with that messiness that shows who we really are.  This week was not great...it's been coming so I should have recognized it when it showed up at my doorstep but this time I'm saying "It's OK".  Tomorrow is a new day!  Just as long as I don't do this...

How do you face a hard week?  What do you do when your mind is fighting back?

Fitness Friday...The Long Road Back

So the long road back to 13.1 began this week and wow is it humbling!!  I have my eyes on a half in March and this week made me question if I'll ever get it back let alone run double that distance!!!  Yes my friends....I'm doubting....I'm frustrated...I'm discouraged.  There is nothing like running to both lift your spirits higher than you thought and take them lower than you thought...sometimes all in the same run!  I know I will one day get it back just like I did the last time....but for today I'm putting my pouty pants on! 
Here are some thoughts on my road back thus far...no I won't make them all whiny!

• Running with a double jogger is no joke...those kids are heavy!!  Then again I have forgotten to fill the tires all the way so that could help me out a bit!!
• My neighborhood must think I'm nuts!  I have been listening to the Another Mother Runner podcasts and my goodness they crack me up!!!  It feels like I'm just talking to my BRF and they are hilarious!!
• My whole body hurts....even my hair!  I have been running for weeks now but for some reason this week my body is fighting back.  I look like an old lady getting off the couch and going!
• Momma needs some shoes!  I think with the pounding in my shoes with the extra weight of the pregnancy, my shoes are left needing some help!  
• I will get there...and it will be great!  I know I will get there and I will look back on this time and laugh...yeah I probably won't laugh...I will remember the climb!  
• At the end of the day I am thankful...thankful to be in a place where I can challenge my body...to push it to new levels...to mold it...to strengthen it...and then come home and hug my family!  

Fitness Friday...To Gym or Not to Gym

That is the million dollar question it seems....well the $20 question since that is what my gym membership is costing me these days!  When I first joined my gym it was minutes from my house which made it super convenient to go before work.  I ignored the fact that they didn't have any classes really that I could take and the equipment was well...not super because I have always belonged to a gym and loved going.  Now that it is no longer convenient to get there...and the whole baby thing...I've been basically donating $20 for the last two months!  I'm thinking I need to cancel and save that money each month to go towards a gym that is closer but more expensive...or these bad boys...

or a race entry or two!

That leaves me with one bump in the road....weights.  The cardio I can handle but baby left me with well...some loose areas!  I have hand weights but need to get one higher weight like a 20lbs or so.  I also need to find ways to mix things up minus the gym atmosphere or an instructor leading the way.  My first solution...

 I have heard so many amazing things about Tina and Best Body Bootcamp and I can't wait to start my year off right with 8 weeks of butt kickings!!!

Had any good butt kickings lately??  Share away!!

Who's Streaking With Me? #RWRunStreak

Nope...it never gets old!!

It's that time of year again....time to brave the falling temps and rising calories of the holiday season to go.....

STREAKING!!!

From Thanksgiving to New Years you need to run at least one mile each day....just one mile...surely you have time for that!  If not...make time!  It is a busy season but choose health first and join Runner's World for the Holiday Running Streak!!! So.....

Who's coming with me?

Fitness Friday...Treadmill Burn

I am certainly not a personal trainer...nor do I claim to be as good as one...but I'm pretty good at replicating classes and such that I have done in the past.  One class that I used to LOVE was called Burn.  You could take it either on the treadmill or the spin bike with a personal trainer in a group...basically it was an ass whooping in an hour!  You would alternate between the bike/mill and weights/resistance bands.  I have been trying to recreate the class in my basement while Aubrey is napping.  Now while it is not at it's not quite at ass whooping level right now, I am looking forward to ramping it up soon!

First I rigged up my treadmill so that I could easily move from mill to weights quickly.

Oh yeah...I hit 1000 miles on Wednesday!!! 

Then it was on!

5 min warm-up

5 min run

squats w/ bicep curl, step-ups w/ lateral raise, tricep kickbacks

10 min walk at 15 incline

chest press with band, squat row with band, push up on mill

10 min run (increase speed each minute)

squat jumps, plank push ups, tricep dips

10 min walk at 15 incline with hand weights (usually 3lbs)

lunges with front raise, hammer curls, dead lifts with reverse fly

5 min run (all out)

5 min cool down

Now note that I do not have a lot of exercises that involve my core/ab muscles in this.  This is due to the fact that I have not been cleared to really exercise and do not want to risk injury or complications from my c-section. 

I love that I get in 40 minutes of cardio in and am still doing weight training as well!  This always keeps my heart rate soaring!  Bonus is that I can earn lots of points for the HBBC which starts on Monday....DO NOT forget to sign up!!!

Why I Run...

I have run most of my life...to train for an upcoming soccer season....to shed a few pounds...because my friends were...to keep those pounds from coming back...to prove to myself and others that I COULD complete a marathon...but it wasn't until the past 3 years that I became a RUNNER.

At my daughter's first birthday party, I looked around at all those there supporting our family...at the perfectly decorated table....the perfectly dressed birthday girl...the perfectly matching outfits that our family had on...the perfectly fitting skinny jeans I had busted my butt to get into by her first birthday...the perfectly created scene.  It was the kind of perfection that this type A girl craves...yet I was hiding under a veil...life was not perfect and the following year would prove that.  It was a road I had never expected to travel down, however through God's faithfulness I can write about it now with a new vision.  That year I also discovered something I will treasure...running as a healer....a comforter...a way to feel like me which was something I had lost!

I am a runner....I am a runner who will head out in sleet, snow, rain, sun, heat, and cold to chase that friend that meets me out there...my friend the run!  I feel like me...I can be me...no matter what the scale says or how crazy life gets, out on the run I AM ME!  There is just something about the rhythm of my feet pounding away that just lets the world fade away and I can just be!  I am able to think...to talk with God...to cry...to laugh...and to leave it all out there.  Just like this Asics ad...

Some days the run is hard...some days it flies by...some days I'm alone...some days I have friends with me...but what always remains is how I feel when I run!  As hookey as it sounds I LOVE to run!!

I run for the love of it...for the feeling after a speed workout...for all those who can't but wish they could...to show my girls what a strong woman looks like...to be proud of me...

Why do YOU run???

ZOOMA and Sarah and Dimity at Another Mother Runner want to know why you run!  Watch the video below from the ZOOMA Great Lakes be sure to enter to win a shirt from Another Mother Runner!!

#Fitness Friday...Emotional Exerciser

First thank you all so much for your support from my last post!  I am always touched by the support this community gives!! 

This morning I was reading Ali Mc post on Running with Spatulas from yesterday and she mentioned that she exercises less when she is feeling down.  This got me thinking about myself and my habits with exercise.  Now we have all heard of emotional eating...

 ...but could there also be emotional exercising?

Much of what we all talk about and researchers show are the many emotional benefits of being healthy and exercising.  We all know how a good run or workout can put us into a better mood.  As a matter of fact the other day when I got home from the doctor, all I wanted to do was go for a run...to hit the pavement so hard that my stress would come out and stay there (I did head to Fancy Nancy's Gym-still looking for a good name-and hit the treadmill for a bit until I didn't want to scream).   I have always tried to be mindful of when I was eating/craving junk food and whether or not it was tied to how I was feeling.  I've worked hard to not eat just because I was sad/stressed, but I've never looked at my exercise patterns.  I would like to think that I am a "I'm stressed so I'll go for a run" type of girl.  The stressful times in my life looking back have gone hand and hand with the highest mileage months to date, but what about you? 

Do you turn to workouts when you are stressed or feeling down or do you tend to stay away from the sweat fest when you're blue?

Fitness Friday....5 Weird Things

On tap for today is a mash-up!  After spending a month with my family, our niece is an expert at mash-ups!  She can start with a song she learned at VBS and finish with something like Dynamite...it really is a talent!

For today's mash-up I am not going to sing, (lucky you although I did sing with Kenny Rogers when I was young), I am going to mash together Fitness Friday hosted by the great Jill Conyers and Day 10 of the Blogger Challenge hosted by the also great Fitness Cheerleader!  Don't forget to visit these ladies and check it all out!

Day 10's question is 

What are 5 weird things that you like?

I'm not sure if these are super weird but I am going to pick 5 weird fitness related things I like!  Enjoy!
1.  Sweating a lot....Now this is only fitness related.  Yesterday when I was sweating my face off I was not too happy.  Pealing off my workout clothes after a run or class is awesome!  When I was working out at a gym with my trainer, sometimes I would weigh myself before and after a class of TRX or some other equally sweat inducing class to see how much I sweated! 

2.  Eating chocolate before I run...Not too weird I know but not the best fuel either.  I eat a normal breakfast usually but chocolate always seems to sneak into my mouth.  Tricky chocolate!
3.  Sore, shaky muscles....I feel cheated after a workout with weights if I don't feel like jello!  Even better is that sore, I'm going to walk weird for a day, feeling you have the next day!  Definitely not the injured hurting...just the "I worked my hiney off" hurting!

4.  Pretending I'm way more badass than I really am....This happens to me on a run or in a spin class.  I feel like it helps me to do better....I crank up my music, get my swagger on, and go.  Let's review though...gangster I am not but whatever gets me through a workout!!

5.  Get excited for days when I can workout all day long....Ok maybe this is more a dream than weird!  I do get excited for days when I can get in a morning and afternoon workout...like an all day sweatfest! 

 Ok so I'll leave you with one shameless plug....If you're running in this weekend's Falmouth Road Race, stop by the expo today after 5.  I'll be there at the ZOOMA tent with Brooke and Brae...they will be there all weekend so stop by and say hi!